The Illness That Saved Harry’s Childhood
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: What if Harry had been sick when Dumbledore wanted to place him with the Dursleys? Completely AU, sick!Harry


**The Illness That Saved Harry's Childhood**

"Hagrid should be here with Harry any minute now," Dumbledore told Minerva, while they were waiting in front of the Dursleys' home after that fateful Halloween night.

Only seconds later, Hagrid made his appearance on Sirius' motor cycle, carrying a sleeping Harry. "Professor Dumbledore, sir, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid greeted the teachers, "Harry fell asleep, but he is obviously ill. He is coughing all the time, and his skin feels very hot to the touch."

"Give him to me," McGonagall demanded firmly, taking the small child from the half giant. "Oh my, Albus, Hagrid is right. He is burning up. Albus, you can't leave him here with those Muggles. We must take him to Poppy."

Harry blinked at the sudden loud voice. '_Where am I?_' he wondered, lazily opening his eyes, which went unnoticed by the preoccupied professors.

"Minerva," Dumbledore replied sighing. "He'll be in good hands with Petunia. She's his aunt after all."

"No!" Harry shouted, a terrified expression on his face. "No Tuia! No no no no no."

"Hey, sweetie, don't make yourself so upset," McGonagall told him in a soft voice, gently rubbing his back when he dove into a coughing fit. "You're ill, Harry, and we're discussing who should take care of you. Don't you like your aunt Petunia?"

"No," Harry replied, while huge tears appeared on his small face. "Tuia no wike." Getting a close look at the person, who was holding him, his face lit up a bit. "Gwanny Mina," he croaked in obvious relief, nestling deeper into her robes in comfort.

"Albus, please let us take the child to Hogwarts at least until he's back to health," McGonagall pleaded, and taking in the boy's flushed cheeks and glassy eyes, the Headmaster finally gave in.

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Twenty minutes later, Madam Pomfrey put her wand away, frowning. "Lily came to see me with Harry two days ago. At that time, it was bronchitis, but now it has already turned into lung infection. I'll have to keep him here for at least a week."

"Well, then we can still take him to his relatives next week," Dumbledore decided contentedly, rising from the chair he had occupied while Pomfrey checked on the child.

"No Albus. You heard what Harry said, didn't you? He told us he didn't want to go to his aunt, because he didn't like her or she didn't like him. I couldn't understand that exactly, but I assume that this is a mutual feeling, considering what Lily told me about Petunia several times. Petunia absolutely despises everything and everyone that has to do with magic," McGonagall protested vehemently.

"All right, Minerva. I'll try to use Legilimency on him and search for his memories containing Petunia, and then we'll decide," Dumbledore replied in a slightly unnerved tone.

"No Headmaster, you will not use Legilimency on a toddler!" Pomfrey scolded him lightly. "You can ask Harry. As you know, many magical families like the Longbottoms, the Bones, and also the Potters, come to me for their babies' regular check-ups, and therefore I know that Harry's speaking abilities are extremely advanced. Normally, magical children are able to build proper sentences at an age of twenty months. Harry is only fifteen months old, but he can speak in a very understandable way, even if not correctly yet and even if he still has problems to pronounce certain letters, which is normal at his age."

The Headmaster let out a long sigh. "All right, Poppy. We'll speak to him as soon as you deem him well enough. Maybe it would be better to hide the boy in one of the teachers' rooms. We wouldn't want the students to come and gape at him or harm him in any way," he mused aloud, causing McGonagall to snort.

"Do you believe either Poppy or I would let anyone harm Harry? Don't forget, Albus, we know Harry well, because Lily often visited us bringing Harry with her," she told the Headmaster in a stern voice, rolling her eyes at the man. "Did you notice that he called me 'Granny'?" she added, before she transformed into her Animagus form and jumped onto the bed, where she curled up next to Harry's feet.

"He'll be all right," Pomfrey said in a soothing voice. "Good night, Albus."

"Good night, Poppy," Dumbledore sighed and slowly strode out of the hospital wing, knowing that he had already lost against the two women, who had been friends from the time of their Sorting onwards and would always stick together.

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McGonagall and Pomfrey never let Harry alone. While the Transfiguration professor was teaching her classes, Poppy bustled around the hospital wing, so that Harry could see and hear her when he woke up from his fever induced nightmares, which always revolved around the moment his mother had died. When the Mediwitch was asleep, Minerva sat on the edge of Harry's bed, grading essays and homework, or spent the time in her cat form, curled up next to Harry's feet.

When Harry woke up for the first time after his fever finally broke, feeling more lucid than before, he looked around anxiously, before recognition set in. '_Hogwarts?_' he mused, pleased to be in the castle, which he liked a lot. "Aunt Poppy," he sighed in relief as he noticed the Mediwitch busying herself at the other end of the room.

"Hello sweetie, are you awake?" she said, coming over immediately. "How are you feeling, Harry?"

"Kay," Harry croaked, before his expression darkened and he added, "bad dweam wif gween light seed."

Trying not to let a horrified expression show on her face, Poppy sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling the child into her arm. "My poor sweetie," she cooed. "Would you like to tell me what was in the dream?"

Cuddling close to the aunt he knew well enough to completely trust her, Harry silently began to cry, before he explained, "Bad man come gween light Mummy no mouf den mow gween light."

"And then the green light hit you on the head and you fought back with your magic, didn't you, sweetie?" Poppy asked softly, causing Harry to nod his head.

"Hawt hewe," he replied, raising his right hand to the scar on his forehead.

"Does it still hurt, Harry?" Poppy enquired, knowing that Harry shouldn't be able to feel any pain under the influence of the strong potions she was giving him for the lung infection.

"No," Harry said pensively, before he asked, "Mummy?"

"I'm so sorry, Harry, but the bad man killed your Mummy. She can't come back, but she's in the sky like all the good people, and she watches you from there and still loves you very much, just like Granny Minerva and I love you, sweetie," Poppy told him in a soothing voice, cuddling him close.

"Kay," Harry mumbled sadly. "Hawwy tay Aunt Poppy?" he then queried hopefully.

Poppy let out a long sigh. "Harry, I'm not sure," she decided to tell the boy the truth. "Professor Dumbledore wants you to live with your Aunt Petunia, but your Granny Minerva and I are fighting with him, because we want you to stay here at Hogwarts with us. Is that what you want, sweetie?"

"Yef, tay wif Aunt Poppy an Gwanny Mina," Harry whispered pleadingly.

"When the Headmaster comes and questions you, you must tell him that, Harry. That's very important," Poppy advised the child, before she told him, "Harry, let me check on you quickly, so I can give you the next dose of potions." She turned into Healer's mode and waved her wand over the child several times, nodding contentedly, before she spelled several potions straight into his system.

Two days later, Pomfrey deemed Harry fit enough to receive visitors beside McGonagall and allowed Dumbledore to speak with the child. Harry recognized the man with the long white beard and a frightened expression flashed over his face when the Headmaster took a seat next to his bed.

"Hello Harry, how are you?" the Headmaster asked gently.

"Fine," Harry replied in a small voice, slightly beginning to panic what was going to happen if the man sent him to Aunt Petunia.

"Harry, I thought that it would be the best if you lived with your relatives," Dumbledore came straight to the point, knowing that it wouldn't make sense to explain about blood wards to a one-year-old.

"No, tay hewe pwease," Harry whispered pleadingly, all the colour disappearing from his face at once.

"And why is that, my boy? Do you know your Aunt Petunia well?" the old man queried gently.

"Aunt Tuia mean. Aunt Tuia tay Hawwy no Mummy Hawwy hawt," the child try to explain, causing the Headmaster to frown.

"Harry, I can't understand you well. Can you think of what happened when Aunt Petunia stayed with you and let me see that memory?"

Harry gave the Headmaster a small nod and thought of the day a few weeks ago when he and his mummy had by chance met his aunt on the playground, while Dumbledore gently cast the Legilimency spell, watching the memory together with him.

_Lily and Petunia were sitting on a bench on the playground, watching Harry and Dudley play in the sand. While the children were playing, Lily had to use the toilet and excused herself for a few minutes, leaving Harry with Petunia since the children were playing together nicely. However, while Lily was away, Petunia went to the children and hissed to Harry, "Go away, boy, and leave my Dudley in peace with your freakishness, you little urchin," before she forcefully pinched him in the arm. When Lily returned Harry was sobbing, holding his arm, but he still couldn't talk and Petunia told Lily that Harry had fallen down as he tried to climb on the nearby tree._

With that, the memory ended, and Dumbledore carefully pulled out of Harry's mind. "Oh my poor boy," he said gently, while his eyes had lost their twinkle. "Harry, would you prefer to stay with Minerva and Poppy here at the castle?" he queried thoughtfully.

"Yef pwease," Harry replied with a hopeful expression on his face, just when McGonagall entered the room and came over to his bed.

"All right, Harry. Minerva, would you be willing to become Harry's guardian?" Dumbledore enquired.

"Of course, Albus," McGonagall gave back. "I'd love to take Harry in, and Poppy already offered to help looking after him while I have to teach." With that, she sat down on the edge of Harry's bed and pulled the child in a bear hug.

"Fanku," Harry mumbled happily, completely relaxing in his granny's embrace.

'_Thank God he was ill when Albus tried to leave him at the Dursleys_,' Minerva mused, gently caressing the child's cheeks as he drifted off to sleep.

**The End**

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I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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